E.coli and Rotten Tomatoes Found at Moscow McDonald's Restaurants

Russian Federal Consumer Rights Protection Service and Prosecutor’s office revealed the results of recent inspections of catering outlets in Moscow. The results, as always, are shocking. One can only wonder how Muscovites and visitors are still alive. In the current heat the situation with the lack of hygiene has worsened. Gross violations are found even in McDonald's chain of restaurants that always took care of its reputation. Most of the claims were registered at McDonald's located on Kashirskoye highway, where eight violations have been recorded.

Photo: E.coli and Rotten Tomatoes Found at Moscow McDonald's Restaurants

According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, the inspectors checking McDonald's chain in Moscow in the first place did not like small kitchens. Several McDonald's restaurants did not have space for cutting vegetables. In McDonald's on Novoslobodskaya Street buns were stored on the floor.

Employees of the fast food restaurants caused a great deal of complaints, too. The staff of the restaurant located at the Andropov Avenue did not pass medical examinations in time. The cooks working in the restaurants at Grin Street and Leninsky Prospect had cuts and burns on their hands. In addition, out of 430 examined washings from the equipment and staff’s hands, 10 samples contained E. coli.

Substandard products were found in several restaurants. In McDonald's restaurants located at the Komsomolskaya Avenue, Yaroslavskoye, Dmitrovskoye and Kashirskoye highways the inspection revealed expired tomatoes and buns.

The leadership of the restaurant chain told to the newspaper that the audit was planned. “Let me just note that only in McDonald's the staff is required to wash their hands up to the elbow with antibacterial soap,” explained a representative of the chain. “Shortcomings in the work will be corrected under strict control.”

Prosecutors found expired products in the chain of Kopeika supermarkets

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has identified violations of sanitary-epidemiological norms in the chain of stores Kopeika. According to Interfax referring to the press service of the prosecutor's office, medical examination terms in the stores were violated. Cleaning and disinfection of the premises is carried out poorly.

In addition, it was revealed that the stores sell expired goods. Violation of the rules of food storage was also found in the store. The violations included absence of thermometers in refrigerators, lack of storage temperature maintenance, lack of suitable conditions for packaging of products, cleaning and processing of cutting tools. The stores stored food and household chemicals next to each other.

Twelve cases of administrative violations were opened as a result of the audit in respect of LLC Kopeika-Moscow and company officials.

In general, the situation with quality of the products sold to Muscovites looks depressing. “Public control” claims that Moscow buyers often complain about store chains of X5 Retail Group and The Seventh Continent that sell expired products.

The reputation of the French Ashan raised questions as well. In particular, in May of this year, “Public control” conducted a control purchase of Russian chickens in the supermarkets of the chain and found that 80% of the chickens were contaminated with salmonella. The Moscow veterinary committee believes that is the result of violations of chicken storage conditions in the stores.

Fish with arsenic

It turns out that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to the efforts of Moscow Veterinary Service, appearance of meat with salmonella and fish with arsenic in the stores was prevented, Itar-Tass was told at the press service of the veterinary committee. According to them, 88 tons of meat, fish, raw milk and byproducts from Russia, Germany, Argentina, China and Belgium were contaminated with Salmonella. More than 44 tons of beef, bacon, shrimp burgers and sea food cocktail have been recalled because of high content of mesophilic aerobic microorganisms. Twelve tons of meat was contaminated with E. coli. Ten tons of polar cod of domestic production contained arsenic, and 800 kilograms of honey contained lead. Approximately 2.6 tons of raw milk contained penicillin and inhibiting substances. All these products have been discarded.

In addition, in Moscow and Moscow region counterfeit goods trading is widely spread. In July, police shut down an underground shop in the south-east of Moscow, which supplied stores and markets with life-threatening dumplings and meatballs. And in mid-June, employees of Moscow Economic Crimes Department discovered illegal production of cheese. The products, some of which were struck by fungus, were supplied to major retail chains.

Komsomolskaya Pravda